Regular season ends on a high note

After Saturday’s victory over the Chicago Sky clinched the top WNBA playoff seed for the Lynx, the players celebrated in the locker room, went back out to the arena to sign autographs for a half hour, then returned the locker room with an 0-0 record.

Everybody on the team talked about the playoffs, not about the regular season that just ended. When I made the mistake of asking Lindsay Whalen if she thought the two teams might see each other again in the WNBA finals, I received a rather withering look. (I should have known better).

“It was a fun regular season for us,” Whalen said. “Now we have to focus up for Seattle (the team’s Western Conference semifinals opponent in a series that starts Friday) and our first game.”

The Lynx have now won 80 games since the start of the 2011 season. Tonight they finished off a 26-8 campaign that ended with several team and individual franchise records, more than we could fit into the print edition of the newspaper.

So here’s list of franchise records set:

CAREER, INDIVIDUAL:

--Seimone Augustus now holds team records with 224 starts and 224 games played.

--Maya Moore for three-point shooting percentage (40.3).

--Rebekkah Brunson for most career rebounds (1,182) and most defensive rebounds (769).

SEASON, INDIVIDUAL

--Moore for three-point shooting percentage (45.3 (72-159).

--Brunson for most games with 10 or more points and rebounds (12) and defensive rebounds (205).

GAME, INDIVIDUAL

--Most assists (14 by Whalen, vs. Los Angeles, Sept. 4).

SEASON, TEAM

--Most consecutive home wins – 18, a streak that began in 2011.

--Field goal percentage (47.4).

--Free throw percentage (79.0).

--Field goals made (1,109).

--Rebounds (922).

--Fewest turnovers (412) , also a league record.

--Highest assist/turnover ratio (698/412), also a league record.

--Most blocked shots (162).

--Fewest personal fouls (562).

GAME, TEAM

--Most assists (30, vs. Phoenix June 6), which ties a team record.

--Most defensive rebounds (39 at New York Aug. 27).

--Fewest turnovers (6 vs. Phoenix June 6), which ties a team record.

Here are some other thoughts on the game:

--Rebekkan Brunson was amazing in her defense on Elena Delle Donne tonight.

--Ditto for Janel McCarville’s defense on Sylvia Fowles. Both Delle Donne and Fowles scored 30-plus points in Chicago’s overtime victory over the Lynx last month, a game McCarville missed with a concussion.

--Lindsay Whalen’s second quarter tonight was one for the books. She had 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting and two assists in 7:12 of playing time.

--It is my personal opinion that Maya Moore might have won the league’s MVP award tonight. We’ll have to wait and see on that one.

That’s about it for now. The Lynx will take Sunday and Monday off, then start practicing on Tuesday.